


Perspectives

by NessieFromSpace



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, a little violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 16:10:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17770001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NessieFromSpace/pseuds/NessieFromSpace
Summary: A fic about the mysterious relationship between Handsome Jack and his new PA, Rhys.





	Perspectives

**Author's Note:**

> A birthday present for c0njidraws.tumblr!!! Based on one of their comics.

The Hyperion employee fell to the ground, begging Handsome Jack to give him another chance. “Please, sir! Please!”

The CEO’s dark glare, narrowed onto him. “You had your chance! Why the hell should I have you around if you’re only going to fuck off?” He grabbed the man by the neck and yanked him to his feet. He shoved the man out the first set of doors of the R&D airlock and shut it. Without hesitation, he opened the outside ones, watching as he was sucked out into space. He glared at the rest of the employees. “Find it, or you will all join what’s-his-fuck!”

“Rodger…” Someone said tentatively.

The others looked extremely nervous at this.

But Handsome Jack nodded. “Find it, or you will join Rodger!”

The employees nodded, scattering to think of a way to find the loose creature. They hid every glance at Handsome Jack and the new man standing next to him.

“See, cupcake? That’s how you get them motivated.” He wrapped his arm around the tall, lanky cyborg.

Rhys was Handsome Jack’s new PA. Rumor was that the man had worked in communications or statistics before somehow winning favor with Handsome Jack. They had no idea what qualified him for a personal assistant, which meant Jack must just find him amusing. Or he was grooming Rhys to be his business partner. Either way, the employees had watched Rhys go from starry eyed to a tired dullness as the weeks progressed which only made them whisper more. Some speculated that Rhys was secretly a weapon, designed by Handsome Jack, for his own protection, or to better kill people.

“I s’pose,” Rhys said before handing Handsome Jack a file. “I need you to sign these.”

Handsome Jack nodded, glancing at it before signing. “C’mon, let’s leave these now perfectly motivated peons to do their job.” He pulled Rhys away.

They did not miss the movement of Handsome Jack’s hand that hooked around the PA’s waist. Clearly Handsome Jack was protective of Rhys. He was clearly the Next Big Secret Weapon.

* * *

They stopped by Rhys’ apartment so he could get changed before hunting down the monster. He left Jack in the living room while he looked through his bedroom for clothes he didn’t care about getting ruined. He conference called Yvette and Vaughn while he did so.

“Hey, you guys know where that black, long sleeve shirt is? Jack and I have to find some loose R&D creature and I don’t want to ruin my work clothes.”

“You’re going monster hunting with Handsome Jack?” Vaughn asked, blinking.

“Rhys, are you sure working with him is a wise choice? His temper…” Yvette looked to the side.

“I’ll be fine. Have you seen the shirt?”

“You’re not even worried a little bit? What if he takes his anger out on you one of these days? He’s gone through a lot of PAs…” Vaughn whispered.

Yvette nodded. “Yeah, I don’t like you walking this tightrope.”

Huffing, Rhys looked at his best friends. “Guys, I promise Jack isn’t going to do any of that to me, okay? I’m perfectly safe with him. Besides, I’ve lasted longer than any of his other personal assistants, I’m fine. Now, seriously, can we focus? I need that shirt.”

Rolling her eyes. “I used it last night for a date.”

Rhys smiled. “Thank you! I’ll make sure to check in with you guys and let you know our progress and where the creature is. You guys need to stay safe.”

“So do you, Rhys,” Yvette said. “And not just with the creature…”

Rolling his eyes, Rhys went into Yvette’s room. “He’s harmless, guys, seriously.”

“ _Harmless_?” Vaughn frowned. “How many people has he killed today?”

Rhys leaned over Yvette’s hamper. “One. The guy who slacked on his job to keep the creature contained. Found it! Thanks guys!”

“Wait,” Yvette said, squinting at Rhys. “If you’re home, where is Handsome Jack?”

Shit, he hadn’t wanted them to figure it out. Rhys smiled sheepishly. “He’s around…”

“ _In our apartment_!?” Yvette glared. “You’re letting him wander!?”

“He’s in the living room, waiting…”

Vaughn smirked. “Yeah, I’m sure. He’s always seemed like a super patient guy to me. Someone who will just sit and wait, not poke around in people’s spaces. Just… Keep him out of our rooms, okay?”

“Well, duh.” Rhys hung up.

* * *

Jack had spent at least a minute pacing in Rhys’ living room. That had to be more than enough time to change, right? When Rhys took longer, he started looking around the place. It was clean, though cluttered. On the table was a stack of papers in one corner, and figurines over a map on the rest of the surface. He bent down to look closely at them.

“Huh.”

He went into the kitchen. He looked through the fridge, finding it obviously sectioned of with tape and labels reading ‘Rhys,’ ‘Vaughn,’ and ‘Yvette.’ So, his cute little PA had roommates. He’d have to check them out later, see what sort of problems they were going to stir up.

He heard Rhys leave his room and go into another, talking with someone. Jack shut the fridge and went back into the living room to wait. Rhys came out, unchanged, holding up the shirt. “I found it, I’ll be a few more minutes. Thanks for taking the time!” He smiled, eyes sparkling.

“Anything for you, sweetheart,” Jack said, winking.

There was something about Rhys that had him melting to any request the man had. He didn’t know what or why, but when Rhys had asked, in the middle of all this chaos, to change his clothes to ones fit for monster hunting, Jack hadn’t thought twice about it. Sure, they couldn’t waste precious time, but… The smile was so cute, and the fact that Jack had put it there…

He rifled through the kitchen some more, opening cupboards and then closing them when it was clear it was not Rhys’. Soon, he began to see a pattern. Yvette’s choices in foods were practical and well rounded, having some of everything, while Vaughn’s was extremely healthy. Whomever this Vaughn was clearly only shopped at natural food stores and ordered shake powders. Rhys, on the other hand, had nothing but sweet snacks. Sure, there were items for home cooked meals, but they were overrun with sweets. Some looked extremely healthy, others were heavily processed. It seemed that Rhys had no reservations about where the sweet came from, as long as it was sweet. So, his little PA had a sweet tooth, huh?

Jack grinned and went to the freezer, almost cackling at what he found. There were two very small sections for Yvette and Vaughn taking up maybe ten percent of the space. Rhys’ section took up the rest and was chocked full of ice cream. Well, Jack had learned something very important today. He shut the freezer and had just reached the living room when Rhys came out. All in black. Even the hat he wore.

Jack laughed. “Are we burgling something?”

Rhys frowned, doing that pout Jack adored. “No. I don’t want my hair to get messed up!” He said, tugging at the beanie. “And black is the best color, what if goop or blood gets on me? Who knows how hard it will be to get out? With black, it won’t matter!” He smiled, proud of himself.

“You are too cute, cupcake. Let’s go.”

Nodding, Rhys locked the apartment up. He looked at his ECHO as they walked through Helios. “There were sightings on the R&D level, but… Now we’ve got attacks going up floors.”

“Lemme see,” Jack said, looking over rhys’ shoulders, letting his hands fall his shoulders. “It looks like it’s going-”

“Yeah.”

“Shit.”

They hurried to the elevator, pushing the button for the cafeteria.

Rhys rocked on his feet. “Do you think it’s super dangerous?”

Grinning, Jack wrapped an arm around Rhys’ shoulders. “Don’t worry, pumpkin, Handsome Jack’s here to keep you safe.” He winked. “Gotta keep you stayin’ as cute as a button.”

Rhys pouted.

Taking down the creature was a mess. It shot multiple things at them, soaking Rhys several times. Handsome Jack shot at it over and over with no affect, but at least they distracted it long enough for personnel from R&D to come and collect it. When they finally arrived, the two men were drenched in multiple substances and were also escorted back for quarantine with the creature.

* * *

Rhys began to worry the moment he was dragged away from Jack. He looked over his shoulder as he was pulled into a different stall.

It was stupid and silly, but he felt reassured when the CEO winked at him. He let them strip him and shove him under a shower and question him about side effects and then give him copious amounts of pills to take for the next few days. They were then released in scrubs.

Handsome Jack frowned at this. “Wait, woah, woah, woah, where are our clothes?”

The employee blinked. “They’re… They’re going to need to be burned, sir…”

“What!?” His eyes turned dark. “What do you mean burned!? Where are they!?”

Rhys sighed, watching the poor employee stammer. “We… We took everything out of the pockets, Handsome Jack, sir, but they, they took most of the brunt of the creature… Sir… So…”

Handsome Jack tugged at the employee, gripping their shirt collar tightly. “WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES!?” He yelled inches from their face.

“They’re on their way to the furnace!”

He threw the employee to the floor and ran to the elevator, dragging Rhys by the hand. “YOU’LL ALL BE THROWN IN THE FURNACE IF MY CLOTHES GET BURNED!”

He did not let go of Rhys’ hand as they rode all the way to the bottom of Helios. Jack’s grip was tight, squeezing Rhys painfully. He glanced at the CEO, finding him watching the floors tick by. He huffed, muttering to himself.

He began to vibrate when they were five floors away, growing even more impatient the closer they got. He whisked Rhys out, pulling him with him. “WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES!?” He demanded. Quickly, each person pointed, directing him to the large furnace.

As they approached, Rhys ran ahead. “Excuse me, what happened to Handsome Jack’s clothes?”

The woman’s eyes widened. “I knew they looked familiar, but I was ordered to burn them… They’re gone…”

“Fuck,” Rhys hissed. “Listen, clear the room, okay? Now.”

The woman nodded, taking off to warn the others.

Rhys turned as Jack arrived, clamping his hands on the man’s broad shoulders. “Jack…” He tried to shove past Rhys, but Rhys stepped in front of him again. “Jack,” he said more quietly.

“Where is she going!? Let me go, Rhys, I gotta find them!” He ordered.

Rhys shook his head. “We both know what you’ll find. They’re gone, Jack. I’m sorry.”

“No!” He shoved passed Rhys, giving the effect of pushing him, but Rhys did not stumble. He watched Jack look through the lineup of items marked for incineration, tossing them to the side and then kicking over the tables. “NO!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. “NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!” He smashed things, threw them at the incinerator, and screamed.

Rhys was in the middle, untouched, unharmed by it all. Jack moved around him with an ease that was uncanny under his anger. He trashed the area, destroying tools and tables as he screamed. Then, suddenly, Jack’s attention was on him again and he was storming over.

Rhys braced himself.

Jack fell to his knees, hugging Rhys and burying his face into his PA. Rhys heard muffled sobs. “That was my favorite sweater! They destroyed my favorite sweater! How!? How could they!?” He squeezed Rhys’ legs.

Rhys bent down to rub Jack’s back. He sent an ECHO to Yvette and Vaughn that everything was alright, the monster was gone, but he would be working overnight with Jack. He hugged Jack in their awkward position. “I’m so sorry, Jack. Why don’t we go to your penthouse and binge some shows? What do you say about that? We’ll order food and ice cream and we can stay there for a good long time, hmm?”

The grip around Rhys tightened. “Will you be there?” he asked, voice almost too muffled to understand.

Rhys sighed and smiled. “Of course I will be.”

Sniffling, Jack nodded, face still dug into Rhys.

“Okay, let’s go.” He pulled Jack to his feet. It took some time since Jack did not want to stand. He draped himself over Rhys, letting his PA haul him to the elevator under all his weight. He clung to Rhys, not leaving any space between them.

He sniffled. “My sweater…”

Rhys pulled him into a tight hug, holding him the entire ride to the tippy-top of Helios, to the penthouse. He had to nudge and coax Jack to let him in, lifting the man’s hand to rest on the pad. “You gotta speak, Jack.”

He sniffled, face falling into Rhys’ shoulder where he shook his head.

“C’mon, Jack, please? How can we sit on the couch together if we can’t get in?”

“Fine!” Jack huffed.

The doors opened and Rhys pulled him in. He deposited the CEO onto the couch before heading into the kitchen, but Jack grabbed his hand, eyes large and wet.

“I will be right back, I promise. I’m going to make hot chocolate and get us some snacks.”

His grip tightened.

Rhys sighed, smiling sympathetically. “Okay, but you can’t lean on me like you’ve been doing, or else I’m going to spill things and it’s going to take even longer.”

Jack nodded, standing and wrapping his arms around Rhys’ flesh arm. They went into the kitchen, Jack leaning into him while he worked. He did not lean fully onto Rhys, which was a relief. It allowed him to quickly gather snacks, water, and finally the hot chocolate and spread it on the coffee table. Grabbing the remote, Rhys sat down on the couch, pulling the blanket off the back and unfolding it. Jack flopped nest to him, head landing on Rhys’ lap. Rhys draped the blanket over Jack, smiling when Jack pulled it close. Rhys let his flesh arm rest on the CEO as he turned the television on.

“What would you like to watch?”

There was no answer.

“Okay, I guess that means I’m picking, but I’m just warning you, you might not like what I pick.” He waited a beat. A large hand snaked out of the blanket and snatched Rhys’ hand, pulling it under where Jack held it like a stuffed animal. Rhys smiled and turned to a station he liked.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr: nessiefromspace.tumblr.com/  
> My Borderlands/ fanart tumblr: nessiesspeakeasy.tumblr.com/  
> My Pillowfort: pillowfort.io/NessieFromSpace  
> My Dreamwidth: nessiefromspace.dreamwidth.org/


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